Buccinid Gastropods

Last updated over 2 years ago

The Sacoglossa is an order of mostly herbivorous shelled and naked sea slugs (~400 described species) that are the focus of a growing body of research on dispersal, kleptoplasty, larval development, symbiosis, phylogeography, and marine speciation. Many sacoglossans sea slugs retain photosynthetically active chloroplasts from the algae they eat, incorporate extra-embryonic resources into their egg masses, and a few taxa can produce both pelagic planktotrophic (feeding) and lecithotrophic (intracapsularly metamorphosing ) larvae-- a rare phenomenon called poecilogony.
Despite the widespread interest in the biology of the Sacoglossa, many species remain undescribed and faunal lists typically underestimate their diversity. The goal of this LifeDesk is to integrate sacoglossan biological information from a team of researchers thereby providing a valuable and authoritative resource to professional scientists, teachers, and amateurs. Last indexed October 17, 2015